Documentary (6 page)

Dylan peeled her second banana and bit it in half, waiting for a particular, resistant tone from her mother that she disliked. If it came out, which it did rarely, only a limited amount of persuading could undo it. She had only heard it two other times before: 1) wh
en she got invited to Kent Barkley’s middle school co-ed sleepover and 2) after her request to stay out overnight at a hotel with her high school boyfriend following prom.

“I suppose. And it is for your future.”

“Really?” Dylan and Taylor said in unison.

“She gets to go, just like that?” Taylor asked with mild spite.

“Well…yes, I guess so. Yes.” The words seemed to have come out faster than her mother had processed them, but once the full statement had landed, she was okay with it. “Yes but, Dylan, can we have a bigger family discussion about it? With your dad?”

Dylan pumped her fist in triumph.
He was the easy one. “Okay, Mom. Thanks. Definitely. Tell Daddy I love him,” Dylan said as another buzz went off in her ear. Maybe that one was really the email she wanted.

“Really? She just gets to go? You said no to Candice’s party, Mom,” Taylor said, growing more disgruntled. “Her house is ten minutes away—”

“Love you, kiddo. Be safe. Let us know how it goes.”

“Love you, Mom. Love you, Tay.”

“Love you back, Dildo.”

“Taylor Price—”

Dylan hung up, laughing softly. When she lowered the phone, she saw that the number of emails in her inbox had increased. Her cowardly decision was to wait until she was back in her room before finding out what the new ones were. She would know about the job one way or the other pretty soon, so she could put it off for another few minutes. She jogged to stay warm and was thrilled for the blast of sun on her shoulders when the clouds passed.

Dylan’s heart was racing when she walked into her room. City Apartments was the coveted tw
o-bedroom apartment-styled dorm that provided the best of both worlds. She and Grace had more personal privacy than a dorm room—more space to stay out of each other’s way, and the college had provided all the furniture—but the camaraderie and social life of the building still resembled the dormitories she had lived in previously. This was the first year she hadn’t been on a dorm committee, and people who lived in City Apartments and who remembered her participation in other dorms were always lauding her for the social and group events she had put together back then. She had decided not to participate this year to focus on school.

Entering her private room, she pressed her back against the door. Her stomach bubbled uncomfortably; the sudden pain was gripping. Dylan opened her email inbox and sucked in a breath when she saw the unread message from Nina Sanchez. Dylan reassured herself that the “uninterview” with Kai had gone spectacularly well. Best-case scenario, she had the job. Worst-case scenario, she was in a tie with someone else and there would be a gladiator-style fight to the death. She held her breath when she read the email, her stomach tightening more with each word. She read it over and over, until the intelligible language turned to Gobbledygook. Then, she bawled.

Professor Jordan offered Dylan a supportive smile at nearly every pause she took in her lecture, but Dylan was already trying her best to nurse the disappointment
of not getting the job back to hopefulness for something bigger. So maybe it wouldn’t be in Hawaii and on a music tour, but it was
one
job and it was replaceable (hopefully), right? She would have the chance at another opportunity, even if it turned out to be just an internship. D.C. was a great place of possibilities and the location would work for over the holiday break, but deep down, she knew getting over the trip wasn’t going to be the hardest part. Kai was nice and far more down to earth than she had imagined. She couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Also, she was still haunted by Nina’s email to her.
Although you exhibited exceptional skill, I regret to inform you that you were not selected for the web series director position. Thank you for applying,
the stock words had said. She had known going in that she was the underdog, but now the sting of elimination was taking some time to recede. Why had she gotten her hopes up about it? She had let herself get wrapped up in the little time she spent with Kai White and created a situation in her mind where it had mattered to him, too. Oh well, other opportunities would come.
Kai won’t be there though.

“
Now, we’re going to watch
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty—
” The entire class turned toward the open classroom door when a gaggle of excited students reached the second floor landing, which their classroom faced. Professor Jordan pressed her lips together in frustration until they bleached over as she waited for the noise to pass. It was the third interruption in fifteen minutes from students coming in from the quad. Something was going on out there.

Their classroom didn’t have windows so the open door
helped to keep air flowing, and Professor Jordan also kept it open so that the sound of the door opening and closing when students had to step out wouldn’t become a nuisance.

             
Dylan read the waiting G-chat message on her computer screen from Winslow.
“Would Kate be okay with Ryan coming to my T’giving shindig, you think?”

             
“I can’t say for sure. She was pissed at him the last time I asked how he was,”
she replied. Winslow was throwing a pre-holiday party because she was staying on campus for Thanksgiving, even though both Kate and Dylan had repeatedly offered her room at their homes, but she had insisted on remaining. Dylan knew that it was a question of finances—and pride about finances—so she didn’t push the issue. Winslow could be stubborn sometimes. At least she was going to her husband’s family’s house for part of the Christmas break.

“Fuck it. I’m just going to uninvite him. LOL,”
Winslow typed.

“D
o you know what’s going on in the quad?”
The entire classroom’s interest was piqued, but no one dared leave Jordan’s lecture to investigate the commotion.

             
“Nope. Still in my apt.”

             
Dylan had a limited view of the outside from her seat through the tiny windows that ran across the front of the building on the wall above the staircase, but they only allowed access to a view of the building across the quad. She didn’t bother to try Kate, who was always online, but kept her status at “busy.” She rarely responded to chat prompts during classes.

             
“This film dates back to 1927, so you’ll actually be forced to pay attention with your eyes because it’s silent, so you can’t rely on your ears as you G-chat or read
Perez Hilton
through it. Next class period, we’ll discuss whether Shub broke any rules of documentary filming—even though in this case she was using already existing footage—in her depiction of Czar Nicholas II’s relationship with the people he ruled over. And it
will
be part of the final.”  The class, as expected, groaned.

Professor Jordan tinkered with the large electronic display that controlled the projection screen, pushing a few buttons. More students trickled up the stairs, spea
king as though classes weren’t in session. “Well, at least we have something of a soundtrack.” The class offered feeble laughter in unison. Someone got up and switched the lights off. On her computer, Dylan broke the news to Winslow that she had to take notes.

             
“Wait! Holy shit! You’ll never believe this!”
Winslow wrote quickly, but Dylan was already closing the chat window. This was her favorite class, but Jordan’s finals mirrored her high expectations when it came to the type of information they were supposed to be retaining from the lessons. Jordan never said, “This won’t be covered on the exam.” If it came out of her mouth, it was fair game for testing. Her take-home would be brutal.

Fifteen minute
s into the film, the noise became too much of a distraction, even for a silent movie, and everyone wanted to know what was going on outside. A guy sitting next to Dylan was decidedly disregarding the film in favor of texting. She could tell by the way he kept fidgeting that he was anxious to get out of there. A chorus of cell phone vibrations rumbled behind her, and when Dylan turned, very few people were looking at the screen still. She fought the urge to reach for her phone, which was buried beneath her belongings in her bag. It had buzzed too. It was the combination of the garbled chatter outside and the steady stream of voices filling up the stairway that finally made Professor Jordan dismiss early.

Dylan stayed behind, even as everyone else rushed out, to assure Professor Jordan that she was already looking into other internships, and she wanted to formally request a recommendation or reference listing for this round of applications. Nothing had the same sparkle as Kai’s web series, but many had the potential to grant her relevant experience and, as an upside, she was probably a more viable candidate.

“I guess you’ll be the first to know that whether or not we finish the entire film during the class period next time, it’s on the final still.” Professor Jordan looked up from assembling her class notes with just a hint of the same understanding expression she had worn the entire time.

“Got it.” Dylan tucked her hair behind her ear
and bit her lip. “I think I’m going to apply for the Sherman Studios internship. You mentioned it right at the beginning of the year.”

Professor Jordan put her hand on her hip and sighed before her features took on a troubled look. “You could get tha
t internship on your worst day.”

“
So I should just submit my first movie?” Dylan asked wryly as she lowered her bag and balanced it upright between her shoes.

Professor Jordan nodde
d and chuckled. “It’s a great internship, but you’d be bored there. I’m all for paying your dues, but it’s a lot of grunt work, and I think you’re past that now. I’m really pushing that one to frosh and sophomores. I’ll dig into some better ones.”

Dylan rocked back on her heels. “So, did Nina say
why
?” This particular unanswered question kept gnawing at her.

“You know me too well.” Professor Jordan cleaned her glasses lens with the hem of her blazer. “No, she didn’t say when I asked. I don’t think it was anything you did wrong. She said Kai spoke highly of you.”

Dylan broke out into a smile. “That’s great.”

“Any idea what’s going on out there?” Professor Jordan ticked her head back toward the
quad, and Dylan shrugged. “Ah well, anyway, I will find you something better,” she promised. They walked out into the hall together, and her professor excused herself to the bathroom. The jumbled voices were frenzied, like a million squawking birds, when Dylan stepped outside. Students were posted around the quad in small groups, but a mass that reminded her of a rally was huddled toward the middle. Dylan stood on her tiptoes and stretched her neck, but whatever was happening within the crush of students was still out of her line of sight. More people drifted over to the bulk of bodies to get a peek.

She tapped a girl she didn’t know on the shoulder who was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk that wrapped around the quad. “Is there a march today?” This was San Francisco; there was always a march. 

“No, they’re filming something,” the girl said. Dylan arched her eyebrows, becoming more curious when she surveyed the crowd again. Her three favorite words had just been mentioned. CSFC had a beautiful campus so it wasn’t out of the ordinary to see photography or film equipment around someone’s neck or on their shoulder, but few things drew numbers like this. It was probably a movie, and an idea sharpened in her mind as she ambled over. What if she gave one of the film crew her
résumé
? What was the worst that would happen?
She had one on her. She always had one on her. She was in California, after all.

After a few less than polite cuts through the throng, she emerged as close as she would get to
the inner most part. She finally ran into a wall of football bodies. Dylan made a tactical move horizontally after spotting a running back she had lived on her freshman hall with. When he saw her, he gestured for her to come closer after securing her a spot right in front. Dylan shook the nerves out of her shoulders and stepped into the space. Her eyes widened as she took note of who had caused such excitement. Right in the middle of the circle of people…was Kai White.

She was staring right at his profile and Dylan froze. He was giving an on-camera explanation of something to the film crew
a few feet away from him. He looked even better today than he had when she had met him. His facial hair was thicker but groomed. He was flawless and natural in front of the camera, especially for someone who didn’t like it so much. Although she couldn’t hear him, the few people who could hear were laughing at whatever he was saying. As she watched, the full weight of her bottled-up longing to work on the project crushed her optimism from before. She should’ve gotten the job, and she still wanted it.

Kai
talked with some of the students, pulling them on camera, mostly giggling girls. Dylan prepped a friendly, casual smile on her face even as her heart drummed ferociously against the walls of her chest. Kai paused mid-sentence when he turned in her direction and stared like he didn’t believe she was actually there. A delighted grin spread slowly on his face, and Dylan’s legs quivered, as she smiled back. He was really cute. The rise in the drone of the crowd sounded like the current that pulsed between them. He walked right up to her and gripped her shoulders.